i need help
 

hello
well i just purchased my first boat last weekend is a 1994 - 190 talari with a 4.3 alpha one .
the color is purple the interior is in excelent condition still original .i took the boat to lake perris this weekend to get a feel for it . from my understanding from the seller the boat has not made it to the water for 2 years . i got a lot of wate inside the blidge , i could not make the boat go fast on take off . i was on full throttle and got it to go up to 4500 rpms, i could not get 25mph out of it .
i am new to boating , please be gentle when you guys start hammering on me . one thing i almost forgot was the oil for the drive was a level now is low
can anyone help

Re: i need help
 

Probably a few things to check out including: crappy gas, blocked fuel filter, spun prop hub, leaving the anchor out, forgetting to unhook the trailer from the boat..... :)

Re: i need help
 

Considering that the boat sat for a couple of years and you knew little about the boat it should have been serviced by a competent mechanic before it was taken out the first time. That cannot be done now but the message is the same - have it serviced immediately. You have a nice boat, don't ruin it.

Re: i need help
 

I will take to a shop on monday or tuesday . But my concern is , well what am i looking on spending , i want to be able to repairs my self and save money . I really like the style of this boat . A friend of mine had one in 1993.

Re: i need help
 

By your own admission you are new to boating so get some help from a mechanic or someone who knows something about maintaining boats. That boat should have been checked out before being run after sitting for so long. MikeyT gave you some ideas about what might be wrong in his response that are spot on. Your engine needs the annual maintenance done on it at a minimum.

Good luck with a really nice boat!

Re: i need help
 

Water in the bilge is quite possibly a breached bellows. If the boat's been sitting for two years w/the outdrive in the same position, even if all the way down (which it should have been for long-term storage), and particularly not knowing how old the bellows' were before she went into storage, there's a good chance they're toast.

You should be able to get up to 4800-5200 RPM with that engine, WOT, and, depending on the prop, somewhere around 45-50 MPH. You should have been getting more than 25 MPH at 4500 RPM, too. Are you certain you were at only 25 MPH and the speedometer wasn't reading way low?

Lastly: As the others said: You must get that boat into a competent marine mechanic to have her checked over. Even if you're talented with automotive mechanics, a boat is a bit different. Sure, you can do quite a bit of the boat's maintenance yourself. But first you have to know what to look for and what to do, then you have to know how to do it and have to have the (sometimes specialized, often expensive) tools with which to do it.

Jim

Re: i need help
 

well i took the boat in , they have not gone through the whole boat yet , they are busy but one thing that came out was that the prop is not the right size also the plastic tube under the drive was pinched and i could not get actual speed

Re: i need help
 

If you got the boat up to 4500 rpms at WOT then the prop isn't the 'wrong' one because you are within the manufacturer's recommended 4400-4800 rpm range for the 4.3. The prop though may not be the best one for what you want or need. Try & find out what sized prop was on the boat as that will determine if it needs to be changed. A 2" drop in the prop pitch will add about 400 rpms to your WOT. As for the pinched speedo tube, that will screw up your mph reading. Sounds like neither is much of a problem though. Right now i'd be a little more concerned about the water entry into the bilge.

Also, if the boat sat for a couple of yrs, i'd really be concerned about the gas which starts to solidify after a period of time and will gum up your carbs/fuel filter etc if it wasn't treated with something like 'Sta-bil' before it was put into storage. Bad gas will really affect your performance.

Re: i need help
 

Make sure they service your water pump / impelllar. You need to do this no matter what! Should be around $250 or so.

Not for the problem that you are having, but the problems what will likely come very soon if not done. Meaning overheating engine, bellow issues, etc.

SuperDave

Re: i need help
 

Thanks for the advice .
i took the boat in and turned out there where several things wrong. the whole out drive was basically shot . the mechanic walked me through the damage parts and gears. the repairs where done and almost 2000 dollars later , i saw my self in the colorado river in parker arizona enjoying the boat . now for sure i now what i have and since then i have enjoyed the boat at several lakes.
i will take it in for service on a yearly basis. the 4.3 mercruiser had no problems , but i had them do a complete tune up. she is running real good. i also replace the prop, now i really get out of the hole. just what i needed.
thanks
rivas